Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Greenfield, California 93927
Thursday, July 20, 2006 16:35 PDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The tail wheel equipped airplane ground looped and nosed over when it encountered a gust of wind during the landing roll on unimproved terrain. The pilot conducted a touch-and-go on a ridgeline and said that after experiencing no problems he became "over confident" and elected to conduct a full stop landing. During the landing roll, when the airplane was below 5 miles per hour, a gust of wind lifted the left wing. The pilot applied power and attempted to correct for the gust of wind, but lacked the control authority due to the reduced speed. The right wing tip contacted the ground and the airplane rotated to the right. The airplane nosed down exposing the bottom of the fuselage to the wind, which blew the airplane over onto its topside. The pilot reported the wind at 20 knots with gusts.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

the pilot's inadequate compensation for the wind conditions and failure to maintain directional control of the airplane during landing.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 7/20/2006
Event Day of the Week Thursday
Time of Event 1635
Event Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Event City Greenfield
Event State CALIFORNIA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 93927
Event Date Year 2006
Event Date Month 7
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 362000N
Event Location Longitude 1211500W
Event Location Airport --
Event Location Nearest Airport ID --
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport Off Airport/Airstrip
Distance from airport in statute miles --
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation --
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Pilot
Time of the weather observation
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) --
Weather Observation Facility ID --
Elevation of weather observation facility --
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) --
Time Zone of the weather observation --
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height --
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height --
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Clear
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling None
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) --
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) --
Visibility (Statute Miles) 10
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 33
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) --
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 310
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 20
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) 25
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) --
Density Altitude (feet) --
Intensity of Precipitation --
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury None
On Ground, Fatal Injuries --
On Ground, Minor Injuries --
On Ground, Serious Injuries --
Injury Total Fatal --
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None 1
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 20556
NTSB Notification Source FAA
NTSB Notification Date --
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Oct 31 2006 8:45AM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\JOHB
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N53SE
NTSB Number LAX06CA241
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed None
Flight plan Was Activated? --
Damage Substantial
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name American Champion Aircraft
Aircraft Model 7GCBC
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 1387-2005
Certified Max Gross Weight 1800
Aircraft Category Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class --
Aircraft is a homebuilt? No
Flight Crew Seats --
Cabin Crew Seats --
Passenger Seats --
Total number of seats on the aircraft 2
Number of Engines 1
Fixed gear or retractable gear Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Annual
Date of Last Inspection --
Airframe hours since last inspection 63.6
Airframe Hours 63.6
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated Yes
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Sanjiva Thielamay
Aircraft Owner Street Address --
Aircraft Owner City Dayton
Aircraft Owner State NV
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 89403
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name Wayne E. Handley
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address --
Operator City Greenfield
Operator State CA
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 93927
Operator Code --
Owner has at least one certificate None
Other Operator of large aircraft? --
Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation --
Operator Certificate Number --
Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not --
Indicates Domestic or International Flight --
Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail --
Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) Personal
Second Pilot on Board No
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code 3CA7
Departure City Greenfield
Departure State CA
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1620
Departure Time Zone PDT
Destination Same as Local Flt dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere
Destination Airport Code --
Destination City --
Destination State --
Destination Country --
Specific Phase of Flight --
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Aug 17 2006 3:03PM
User who most recently changed record COOS
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location NA
Runway Length --
Runway Width --
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --